Pages

21/12/2012

It's end of the year, and you know what that means for a graphics department: a complete review of the work done during the year to prepare entries for the awards.
So, now you're taking a look to your last 12 months of graphics, remember to open an Excel spreadsheet and take note of the URLs of your best interactive designs, graphics, multimedia narratives or whatever you have done: the SND Best of Digital call for entries is here.

Take note, cause there's a new set of categories, prepared to fit better with the evolution of the industry. And also remember: deadline is January 16, 12 EST.

15/11/2012

Today I stepped down as Digital Narratives Director at lainformacion.com. In a couple of weeks I'll change the medium, the country and the continent to be part of The Boston Globe graphics department. This is not an scoop, but I didn't want to say a word until the visa process was complete.

I've been working at lainformacion.com since February 2009, when I arrived with just a slight idea on how digital media work and how to do interactive graphics.So I've got much to thank to Mario Tascón, who gave me this opportunity thinking more on what I could do than what I had done before. And I also have to thank the amazing colleagues I've work with these years, they've taught me day by day what digital thinking means.

Now it's time to start a new adventure and join one of the best visual departments worldwide. And I'm not going to talk about the journalism standards, that's obvious. Also, I'm not writing here all the incredible people I'll meet there, but those who follow this blog will know Javier Zarracina (what can I say!) and Dan Zedek, my future bosses. And you can imagine how excited I am.

11/11/2012

National Infographicis a blog by Juan Velasco, Art Director at, obviously, National Geographic. For all those who stare amazed when somenody from NatGeo talks about how they work, this is the right place to visit.

Render of a cheetah skull

Juan Velasco explains on it the processes of different graphics (and making a graphic at the magazine of the yellow frame is not doing a graphic elsewhere): body scan of a cheetah, Neanderthal men bodies reconstruction, and many other examples from one of the best graphics departments in the world.

Terracota warriors graphics, used as header of the blog

But not just that, Velasco also talks about graphics in the history of NG, explains some decissions taken about some infographics... the complete set.

An amazing place to know the insides of a wonderful place like the National Geographic graphics department.

15/10/2012

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will be face-to-face again on TV for their second debate. A debate, bi its nature, shouldn't be a subject easy to visualize, but day after the day, media gets to publish great graphics, in a record time, about what is said on these spaces. These are some examples of graphics on this topic, new and old.

The New York Times: the replay

No surprises. NYT uses to do spectacular (and effective graphics) with almost any topic. Debates are not an exception.

This interactive way to replay the vice-presidential debate may not be a graphic. I don't mind the name: graphic, design, layout... It's a different way to present the information, easy to navigate and with fact-checking embedded.

Boston Globe: the intensity

Daigo Fujiwara and Alvin Chang created this graphic visualizing the intensity of the Biden and Ryan answers at the VP debate.

Click in the image and, in less than 30 seconds, tell me the three most controversial topics of the debate: taxes, defense and medicare jump to your eyes. And you easily see how abortion was not something to discuss. And you can also have more detailed information with just a mouse-over. That's what graphics can do: give you a good summary at a glance and allow you to get deeper without problems.

Publico: everything else

Four years ago, Rajoy and Zapatero had a TV debate, after many years without this kind of face-offs in Spain. So Publico, a very political newspaper where I was working with other very talented infographic journalist, wanted to cover it with a breaking news double spread explaining all the details around the candidates and their performing. The political analysis will have pages of text. This was something else.

This was the result.

The body language, the bets moments, the mentions, the timeline... we focused on the most visual details of the confrontation.

NPR: the details

This is not a debate graphic. Not even a graphic, maybe, but as I told before, I dont mind the names.

But they created the debate from speeches and presented it in a very different way, as an homage to the famous pop-up videos.

They focus on some details, fact checking and curiosities. What is behind the declarations.

UPDATE

Periscopic: the issues

Periscopic has also its own way to visualize the presidential debate words through Politilines.com., 'Connecting the issues to the candidates' is the motto of this initiative. And so it is.

A direct way to know what the candidates are saying about certain topics... and who's talking about the topic chosen (and what are they saying).

The starting date is October 28. But notice it will be a course for newbies or people coming from other professional expertises, so you won't need previous knowledge but it might be too basic for infographics professionals.

The ÑH9 Awards, a competition by the Spanish Chapter of the SND recognize the best media design in Spain and Portugal. (Complete list here).
As usual, this blog will focus on infographics, print and online. I've gathered all the links and most of the images, but stay tuned for further updates!

06/09/2012

Alberto Cairo's latest book is here... and in english. 'The Functional Art' has been translated, updated, improved and completed in the last months and now is available. I read the spanish version and the sensation I had is that I was reading what I should have read when I was in my first years in this work. But then you notice it keeps being useful anyway. The reading is completely different now, what I learn from the reading changes with your experience. Is, undoubtedly, time well spent. Is not just theory, also practical cases through discussions with some of the greatest names as John Grimwade, Fernando G. Baptista, Steve Duenes, Hannah Fairfield, Geoff McGhee...

But this is 'Show Don't tell', so I'll stop talking and let you enjoy the intro...

06/05/2012

Pinterest is the new social network in fashion. A visual pinboard with recommendations form your contacts. And a perfect showroom for (static) infographics. These are some of the boards you may follow if you like infographics. Feel free to recommend more in comments or if you think I've forgotten any.

Alberto Cuadra - My graphics - Graphics
Alberto Cuadra works for the Washington Post, in these boards you may find his own works and other infographics he likes.

Juan Colombato - Infografías/Infographics
Colombato show some of his works at La Voz del Interior. Beautiful handcrafted graphics with the best of the argentinian tradition.

Ben Golder - Illustrations/Measurements
The name of the board is already telling you that you'll find here more things than infographics, but it worths a visit: amazing examples of old and new visual communication pieces.

Linda Eckstein - Malofiej 20 Awards
Some of the graphics awarded at the last edition of the Malofiej are present in this board.

16/04/2012

Every single newspaper and news site has produced its new Titanic graphic for the 100th anniversary. But none of them have been so impressing as the one published by 'The Graphic' and other media in 1912. Without Google. Without Illustrator. Without Flash.

Most of them can be considered illustrations, but all of them have the goal of a visual explanation of the event. These are some examples from a special issue of The Graphic published on April 27th. Some sources says it was published on april 1912, otrhers April 2014. Maybe there was a reedition two years after, and the most reliable sources use 1912 as the date, but the work is impressive anyway.

04/04/2012

There's a lot of buzz in social networks about the little game The New York Times has used to illustrate their feature Just One More Game... Actually, what they publish is a version of the Kick Ass game by Rootof Creations, as indicated in the source. Usually, these ideas look absolutely mad when proposed in other newsrooms. Then, The New York Times or any other respected newspapers uses it and all those who banned the idea in their media clap like crazy. Maybe that's why NYT is so innovative. They don't mind how important they are, they are open to new ideas and don't think a game or an animated GIF (as published today on its frontpage) is not as serious as they should be.

But is not the first time The New York Times uses a game to explain something. And, in my opinion, not, by far, the best. In fact, this is just some amusement, meanwhile other times NYT has used those games as a really effective way to explain some concepts.

It's not a game just for the sake of having a game in the page (as the one on the top of the article). It's actually an explanation in disguise. And a really good one.

The same they did when they wanted you to know why is dangerous to text and drive. Other incredible piece called Gauging your Distraction.

Better than a text and giving you the reasons, they give the experience. The classical Show Don't Tell! as its best.
This particular piece made me think much about it, and from them I always try to look for the possibility of using games to explain information. Sometimes just slightly, sometimes on a more evident way.

Games are not just about making things funny. Means better understanding of the information. Reader engagement. Success in social networks. Scarce content. Time spent by the user/reader. Many many reasons for, at least, try to think on the possibility.